Dick Advocaat, his former PSV Eindhoven boss, has revealed that he has always seen a potential Ronaldo in Depay.

“Memphis is one of Holland’s finest talents,” said Advocaat. “But I wanted to make it clear to him that there is a difference between being a talent and becoming a world-class player.

“There was this big interview with Edwin van der Sar in the papers and he explained all the things Cristiano was doing on the training ground at Manchester United, how many extra hours he was spending to try to improve himself. So I cut the page out and handed it to Depay the next day.”